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Setting your brand voice with writing profiles

Reusable steers for generation - tone, length, reading level, audience, words to avoid and words to include.

Updated

A writing profile is a reusable set of instructions you attach to a generation: tone, length, reading level, audience, call to action, words to avoid and words that must appear. You can keep several and mark one as the default for new content.

Prohibited words are handled honestly rather than absolutely. The model is told to avoid them and the output is checked afterwards, so a violation is reported against the generation instead of being quietly rewritten.

BEFORE YOU START

  • You need the "administer" permission to create, edit or delete a profile. Any member can read the list and pick a profile when generating, and the page shows the create form to everyone, so a member without the permission only finds out on save.
  • Profile names must be unique within the organisation.
  • Managing profiles costs no credits. Using one costs whatever the generation itself costs.

STEPS

  1. Open Settings and choose "Writing controls", or go to /app/writing-profiles.
  2. Type a "Name". Make it describe the job, for example "Short LinkedIn, expert audience".
  3. Set "Tone", "Length" and "Reading level". Length is one of brief, standard or detailed; reading level is one of simple, standard or expert. Both are instructions to the writer, not hard limits.
  4. Set "Audience" and "Call to action" if the profile is for a specific job.
  5. List "Prohibited words" and "Must include" as comma-separated values.
  6. Tick "Use as the default profile for new content" if this should be picked automatically. Only one profile can be the default; setting a new one demotes the old one.
  7. Choose "Create profile".

WHAT YOU SHOULD SEE

The profile appears under "Your profiles" with a summary line of its tone, length and audience, and a "default" chip if you set it as the default. A profile with no steering at all shows "no steering set". Profiles with prohibited words also show how many words they avoid.

WHAT THIS WILL NOT DO

  • It does not guarantee a prohibited word never appears. The word is passed to the model as an instruction and the output is checked; if it slips through, the violation is recorded against that generation so you can see it. Nothing is silently edited.
  • Length is not a token limit. "Brief" asks for a couple of tight sentences; it does not cap the output.
  • An inline "must include" set at generation time is ignored. Prohibited words from an inline override are combined with the profile's, but "must include" comes from the profile only.
  • Removing a profile asks for no confirmation. There is no undo.

IF IT DOES NOT WORK

  • "That profile could not be saved. Names must be unique." is the page's single message for every save failure, including a permission refusal. If the name is definitely unique, the real cause is almost certainly that you lack the "administer" permission.
  • "administer permission required." is the message the server actually returns for that case, if you can see it.
  • "Profile not found." on an edit or delete means the profile has already been removed, or belongs to another organisation.
  • "That profile could not be deleted." is the general fallback for a failed removal.

COMMON QUESTIONS

If I edit a profile and leave a field blank, what happens?

It is cleared. An edit sends the whole profile, so a field you empty is emptied rather than left as it was.

Which wins, a writing profile or the Brand Brain?

They stack. The Brand Brain is the brand's fixed voice and its banned phrases; the profile is the steer for this piece of work. Prohibited words from both are applied together.

Can I have a default per brand?

No. There is one default per organisation.

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